In Cold Water

A woman returns to a familiar temple, only to find an impossible reservoir waiting where the well should be. Drawn by cold water and a seductive snake, she descends toward the place where body, desire, and disappearance begin to merge. After a long period indoors, an unnamed narrator is allowed to visit Baegnyeonsa, a familiar temple that should offer nothing more than a walk. But a violent wind tears open the grounds: the well disappears, a reservoir rises in its place, and from its cold surface a water snake begins to call.
As children, monks, drums, rain, and memory drift in and out of focus, the narrator's body becomes a site of longing, terror, and transformation. Drawn toward the snake and the bottom of the reservoir, she searches for the long, soft body she believes she lacks. In Cold Water is a surreal Korean literary short story about desire, dissociation, and the chilling wish to cross the border between self and other.